Amtrak 30 day rail pass a good idea? and concerning reservations.?

Question

I'm considering buying the 30 day Amtrak rail pass. But I don't have any plans as to where I am heading. I plan on possibly heading to Texas and then maybe California. How concerned should I be about the whole making reservations thing? How far in advance should I worry about placing a reservation?

Answer 1

So you're just going to hop on random trains and go to random states?   Sounds like a plan to me....

Answer 2

making reservations is easy, you just call the toll-free numbers as you travel to add city pairs/dates for traveling.  if the train has space, you get a seat; if it is sold out, then you'll be told and you can either change your date, your cities, pay extra for a sleeper/1st class/business class/etc space, or recheck later for possible cancellations.

add more details as to your citizenship/passport status, and if you plan on traveling east of chicago/new orleans or anywhere in canada, and ill try to  help you more on this.

to buy a USA Rail Pass 30days, you MUST have a foreign passport, it is not sold to americans or canadians. USA passes come in different regional variations too (ie the price of a national pass is most expensive, prices for a western pass or an eastern pass is lower).  there are also some 15 day versions too, all at lower prices than the 30 day usa rail passes.

the North American Rail Pass 30days, is sold to everyone, americans, canadians, and all others with passports.  however, it is sold jointly by amtrak and via rail, so at least 1 segment of travel has to be in usa and at least 1 segment of travel has to be in canada.

so, your citizenship status and travel itinerary will influence what passes you might buy.

for either USA or NAR passes, they both allow flexibility to reserve and travel as you go.  of course, you want to try to reserve as early and as soon as you know what date/train you want.  some trains do sell out, and some never do, and some sell out on some days and not other days.  

keep in mind that if you reserve and get a train ticket issued against the pass, there is no fee to cancel the ticket later, change your itinerary, or make a different reservation for any other day, train, city, etc, and then get a new ticket issued against the pass before your actual travel.

CAVEAT:  tickets always have to be issued at STAFFED train stations.  so if you go to an unstaffed station, you have to get the additional ticket to get out of that city BEFORE you ever go there in the first place.  so of course, you might reserve a date to get the ticket issued, but then while there, you can call and change the reservation, get a boarding code from the 800 agent as well, and then when you board, you give the conductor the boarding code and the ticket that has the wrong date, and the conductor will change the ticket and validate it for the new travel date, and you have to show the USA or NAR pass as well as your passport.

more information can/should be obtained from:

amtrak - 1.800.USA.RAIL (872.7245) or www.amtrak.com

via rail - 1.888.VIA.RAIL (862.7245) or www.viarail.ca